That First Punch
by Kare Uta
Summary: Bryan hitting his dear Tala for the first time makes the redhead think about the abuse that tore his family apart and destroyed his home. Shounan-ai. Bryan/Tala. Twoshot. Extended.
1. The Fight

That First Punch

_**That First Punch**_

"Tala…" Bryan huffed, knocking harder on the bathroom door, "Tala please open up."

"Get the hell away from me, Bryan!" The redhead retorted weakly.

"Tala…I'm sorry."

Tala bit the inside of his cheek, "You hit me. You son of a…" he took a deep breath, still shaken up, "I can't believe you hit me!"

Bryan sighed for about the third time, pacing in front of the bathroom door, "I'm sorry. Can you please come out here so I can see the damage?"

"You don't need to see it!"

Bryan walked down the hall to the kitchen, grabbing an icepack from the fridge and placing it in clean dish cloth before returning to the bathroom door. "Tala, please come out. If you don't want to show me to ease my worry, then come out here so I can see it and feel guilty for what I've done." Still there was no sound from the other side of the door and he knocked for another time, "Tal, please, open the door and let me see. I got you some ice; you need to ice it or else you'll bruise." He heard the water running and his head connected with the door slightly in response, "Cold water won't help."

The bathroom door swung open and Tala's hand reached out to Bryan to snatch the ice from him but the other grabbed his arm too quickly and pulled him close. "Let go of me!"

Bryan reached past him and pulled the bathroom door shut, holding onto his boyfriend's hand lightly and pulling him gently into the next room and setting him down onto the bed. He pressed the icepack tenderly against the bruising cheek, sighing as it had already grown to be a large red and purpling mark. The same purple marks had made themselves apparent on his shoulder where he'd grabbed him when he punched him. "I'm sorry I hurt you."

"Ice and an apology doesn't make things all better." The redhead bit back rudely, holding the ice to his face and shrugging Bryan's hand away.

"I know…" Bryan whispered, reaching forward and stroking the bruised arm. The two went silent for a few moments. Tala was focused on keeping the ice close so that it'd reduce the swelling that his boyfriend had caused him with his action of anger. In the meantime, Bryan just didn't want to say anything upsetting. He tried to make himself useful, turning down the sheets for Tala to get into bed and then going to get the boy a glass of water.

"It was one small hit…" Tala announced as he lay down beneath the heavy sheets, "It was one small hit like the one that you gave me…that started the violence between my parents."

Bryan got on all fours on the bed, lifting a hand and brushing the red hair off the forehead even though the boy flinched away a bit. "It won't happen again. I'll never start what your parents started…"

"I don't want us to end up like them…"

"We won't. I won't let myself do that to you."

Tala turned over onto his side, the one that wasn't bruised, and buried himself beneath the sheets to cover the bruise on his cheek, "A lot of people say that."

"But I really mean it." He insisted, "And that should count for something." He added softly, getting in beside Tala. He wrapped his arm around his waist, holding him closer, allowing Tala's back to press against his chest and stroking his tense stomach muscles. "I won't hurt you…I promise."

"Promises are just words."

"But I'll stick to them, and I'll make sure my actions do too." He hugged the boy further, trailing light feathery kisses from the boy's bruised shoulder, gently over the bruised cheek and onto the boy's temple. "I'll make it up to you. This won't happen again."

"I love you, Bryan." The teenager murmured, "Please don't hurt me."

"I won't. Ever again."

_**A/N: I couldn't help but right about of shounan-ai. I was really interested in writing something short but sweet. This isn't exactly short to some but it is in comparison of most of my oneshots. **_

_**I'm dedicating this one to EpitomeOfMisery. She was looking forward to reading more of my shounan-ai themed writing so I wrote this in the short span that I was talking to her. **_

_**I hope someone liked this. Please leave me a review so I know what you thought of it. Keep safe everyone! Have a nice weekend!**_


	2. The Morning After

A/N: Upon request for the reason the fight started, this has been expanded into a twoshot

_**A/N: Upon request for the reason the fight started, this has been expanded into a twoshot. Enjoy!**_

_**Part 2**_

Tala found waking something painful this morning. There was a stinging throbbing feeling coming from his arm and his cheek of the same side was feeling just as bad. Opening his eyes and looking around his memories of the night before came washing over him in a rush. The argument with Bryan, the talk, the comforting…

He sat up and the terrible pain that shot up from his backside reminded him of the last thing. The lovemaking. The pain made him agree with the jokes that Bryan and him were like horny teenagers. He got out of bed, tugging some clothes back onto his cold body. Bryan had forgotten to turn the heater on again before he left the bed. Tala hated the heater on at night when he was all curled up next to Bryan but the second the other teenager left his bed he froze.

He walked into the bathroom, having heard the sink water running. He smiled as he watched the boy rinse his face, "Morning." Bryan grumbled, drying off before giving the boy a peck on the cheek. "Slept well?"

Tala had just finished fidgeting with things in the medicine cupboard, humming a 'yes' while patting a nicotine patch against Bryan's arm.

Quite clearly it was the cravings that made Bryan act so foolishly the night before and Tala was taking precautions in making sure that it never happened again. "Are you feeling alright?" Bryan's hand ghosted over the bruises on Tala's pale skin, his tone of voice combined with the look in his eyes really emphasizing his concern for his partner.

The redheaded blader leant against the other's chest, groaning drowsily, "I'm fine, don't worry."

"I'm really sorry."

"You already apologized last night," Tala smirked, pulling away and sitting on the side of the bath, "at least three times."

Bryan smirked too and sat down beside him, embracing him carefully. "It'll never happen again; I promise."

"I know, I know."

"I just don't want it to seem like I felt nothing when it happened."

Tala nodded in understanding, "I know you're sorry and I trust you when you say that it won't happen again. Besides, I should've know what we were getting into when you were going to try to stop smoking."

Bryan breathed out heavily, reprimanding gently as he held the boy close to him, "That's not a good reason for me to have hit you."

"I was the one that insisted that you quit smoking though."

Bryan told him, "That's because you were worried about my health." He pulled the boy even closer, turning his head so that he'd finally look at him, "Don't blame yourself. Please? It was my fault, plain and simple. Now I'll just try harder to keep it all under control."

Tala got up on Bryan's lap, wrapping his arms around his neck and embracing him tightly so that Bryan didn't have to look at him. "I just don't want to get hurt again. That's all."

Bryan took in the boy's sweet scent, memories of last night's events coming to mind, "Shower…We need a shower."

"_I_ need a shower. You just had one." Tala reminded naively.

"No," Bryan kissed his neck lightly, fingers tracing up and down Tala's back with care, "_We_ need a shower."

Tala pulled away, his arms still around Bryan's neck as he glared at him, "I'm talking about something as important as this and _you're_ thinking about _sex _again?" As his sentence progressed little gasps and moans escaped his lips as Bryan continued to kiss and nibble at his neck.

"_You're_ thinking about it too." Bryan growled quietly.

"Well yes, _now_!"

Bryan smirked, kissing the boy's pouting lips, "Honestly, when this first started I promised that I wouldn't let you get hurt by _anyone_. I won't hurt you, I mean that. You're so scared of things turning out like your parents, aren't you?"

"I watched my family fall apart."

"It won't happen to us."

"Okay…" Tala murmured, kissing the boy tenderly at the promise. "I need a shower…" he murmured, standing back up as he turned a bit red in the face.

Bryan got up too, "Me too."

"You were hooked to smoking and now you're going to end up hooked to sex." Tala sighed, undressing.

"Well the good thing about that is… you won't get me to quit."

"So true."

_**A/N: So people were curious about the fight and I left it open to interpretation really but since so many people asked, I thought I'd give my view. Really, I was bored and was thinking about it and I think the reason for the fight just goes to show how much Tala is trying to make things between him and Bryan perfect so that there's no way that he'd end up like his parents. **_

_**But truly the reason is up to you, I just thought I'd put some input on the subject. And sort of to save myself having to reply to everyone's dear reviews with the answer so thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter! I hope you aren't disappointed with this one! Keep safe everyone!**_


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